How to Summarise Past Meetings Using AI Note-Taking Tools Like Descript

Meetings can be long, full of ideas, action points, and details you don’t want to forget. But sitting down to go through all those notes later? That’s where AI tools come in to save you a huge amount of time.

One of my go-to tools is Descript. You can just upload a voice recording, and it will transcribe everything for you. If you’ve got an iPhone, you already have a built-in option too—the Voice Memo app. Just record your meeting, and it transcribes your conversation automatically. If your meeting is online, platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams also offer built-in transcription features, making it even easier to capture everything in real time. Once you have the transcript, you can take it to the next step.

Cleaning Up Your Notes with AI

For me, when I have a big meeting—say, 15 people around a table—I don’t want to go through the entire raw transcript. Instead, I ask ChatGPT (or any other AI tool you prefer) to clean up the document. That just means removing anything that’s irrelevant or not useful, leaving you with the key points.

Once that’s done, I give further instructions, like:

• Organise by topic – Everything related to ABC Project under one heading, finance details under another, and so on.

• Highlight action points – So I can quickly see what needs to be done next.

This alone can save hours of work.

Double-Checking for Accuracy

Even though AI does a great job, you’re still the expert, so you should always review the final notes. One trick I use is to cross-check the cleaned transcript with another tool. For example, I might say to Claude (or whatever tool I’m using):

"Read through the transcribed document. These are the notes ChatGPT created for me. Can you confirm that nothing important has been left out?"

That way, I get a second pass on my meeting summary to be sure it’s all there.

The Bottom Line

Saving time means something different to everyone. For some, it’s about achieving a better work-life balance, spending time with loved ones or travelling perhaps while for others, it’s about creating more space to focus on business growth. Whatever it means for you, time is one of the few things money can’t buy—so being strategic about how you gain more of it is key.

Summary

Using AI to transcribe, clean, and organise your meeting notes can take a huge workload off your plate. But remember, you’re the one in control—AI helps, but you decide what’s relevant.

Try this approach the next time you have a long meeting. You’ll be surprised at how much faster and easier it makes your workflow.

Not Sure Where to Start?

If you’re unsure how AI can help in your business, I offer a free 30-minute discovery call where I can walk you through what’s possible. Most people don’t realise the full potential of AI, and this is an obligation-free chat—just an opportunity to see what might work for you.